Known for 'cutting men to pieces', Dr Lynn was once famous worldwide

Legend has it that John Wesley Simmons used to walk around Tokyo in the 1860s with a loaded gun under one hand, and his head tucked under the other.

People pretty much left him alone.

Simmons—also known as Washington Blythe, Washington Simmons, and, most famously, Dr Lynn—was the first Western magician to appear in Japan after the country opened up to foreigners in the mid-19th century.

More than 50 years before sawing assistants into two measures of illusionist skill, Simmons dismembered a man every night and put him back together for a paying audience.

As Dr Lynn, Simmons was one of the most famous and successful illusionists of his time, but his contributions to the wizarding world have been largely forgotten outside of fans and historians.

John Wesley Simmons, appearing as Dr Lynn, was the first Western magician to perform in Japan.(Provided: National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom))

He was a pioneer in several stage magic techniques, a talented performer, and is said to be the one whose magic inspired the great Harry Houdini to become an illusionist.

And his big break came because he decided to take the kick and travel from England to Australia; unknown and untested, but not ambitious.

Historian and wizard of magic Dean Arnold believes Simmons was neglected by those who accumulated illusionist achievements in the golden age of art.

“I think he’s one of the more interesting characters in magic, in terms of showmanship, inventiveness, who he meets, what he does, where he travels,” he said.

“He’s been cast as a B-player by a number of historians, they say he stole people’s tricks. My research shows he wasn’t.

“He’s kind of hard to do by history.”

A magician better than a sailor

It was this thirst for adventure that led John Wesley Simmons to join the British navy in the mid-19th century, but he soon realized he was suffering from debilitating seasickness and rarely strayed far from the mainland.

He may have failed as a sailor, but he had a knack for entertaining them with his amateur magic tricks and decided it was time for a pretty significant career change.

In 1861, Simmons packed his belongings and boarded a ship bound for Australia determined to make his name as a magician.

Simmons began performing in Melbourne as Washington Blythe, and later had more success as Washington Simmons, touring regional cities in Victoria and South Australia.

Simmons came to Australia as a complete stranger but quickly established himself as a successful player.(Sydney Daily Telegraph)

But it wasn’t until Simmons teamed up with theater manager Robert Sparrow Smythe that his career really took off.

Sparrow gathers a group of players to travel to China and Japan and wants Simmons to be part of what will be a pioneering journey to the Far East.

Opportunities to perform in Japan are rare, and so far no Western magician has made the trip, which is not without risk.

One of Simmons’ co-stars died of cholera in China, and the group got caught in a typhoon while crossing from Shanghai to Tokyo – but other than that the trip was a success, especially for Simmons.

From Japan, Simmons traveled to the United States before returning to England in 1865 with a new stage name – Dr Lynn – and a catalog of tricks that would take him to the pinnacle of his craft.

‘Another man was cut tonight’

Dr Lynn’s signature trick is to dismember a man on stage and then put him back together.(provided)

In 1873, Dr Lynn was one of the most successful illusionists in the world, performing every night in London’s famous Egyptian Hall.

His signature trick is an illusion he calls Mostenesiac, where he dismembers his assistant on stage before putting them back together.

Illusion uses what’s known as Black Art, which involves clever lighting and strategically placed black materials to trick viewers into believing that a cropped prosthetic leg is the real thing.

John Wesley Simmons wrote a book about his journey as Dr Lynn, and includes details on how some of his tricks are performed.(Provided: Senate Building Library, University of London)

The flyer would advertise Dr Lynn’s show with the promise of “another man cut tonight” – and people loved it.

The trick seemed so convincing that it left a lasting impression on young Harry Houdini, who would buy the illusion rights after Simmons’ death.

Simmons was wise enough not to reveal his greatest illusory secrets while he was alive, even as he “explained” the trick method in his own book The Adventures of the Strange Man.

“You cut off one of his arms, after this one of his legs, then removed his head, which you handed out to the audience for inspection,” he wrote.

“After this (provided life isn’t completely extinct) you remove the other leg and arm, throw the remains into the basket, and ask the victim to put herself together again – and THAT’S HOW TO DO IT.”

Can the real Dr Lynn stand up?

Simmons has achieved such fame as Dr Lynn that pretenders will appear all over the world using not only his name, but also his illusions.

In Australia, a magician named “Dr Lynn” finds himself in court for failing to pay for a suit he made for an upcoming show.

This is not the world-famous illusionist who fills the Egyptian Halls every night, but the son of a Brisbane merchant trying to cash in on Dr Lynn’s fame.

Dean Arnold is working on a book about the life of Dr. Lynn.(provided)

When the real Dr Lynn returned to Australia to perform in the 1880s, he took out newspaper advertisements condemning the “con” who had appeared under his name.

It’s also possible that “Dr Lynn” whom Harry Houdini saw as a child in the US was also a con artist.

As part of his research, Dean Arnold gained access to Houdini’s diary in which the famous illusionist Dr Lynn named the magician who inspired him to take up the art.

“I found in his journal very strong indications that he believed he saw Dr Lynn,” Arnold said.

“He saw someone who said Lynn or, what I think is more likely is that he saw the Mostenesian and the trick was related to Lynn.

“The only time Houdini got to see Dr Lynn – the real Dr Lynn – was when he was eight, but when he was eight he wasn’t anywhere near Lynn.”

Simmons put out an ad claiming that a Dr Lynn impersonator had appeared in Australia.(Victoria State Library)

The Last Journey Below

Simmons toured Australia for the last time in 1886, when his career was on the decline, but he had one last trick up his sleeve (pardon the pun).

He had invented the illusion he called Thauma, in which a woman appeared to disappear from the waist down, and had licensed it in Australia long before his arrival, leaving him with no core trick to perform.

Dr Lynn’s ‘Thauma’ illusion features a woman who appears to be missing her lower body.(Victoria State Library)

He persuaded the illusionist’s inventor Createier De Kolta to allow him to use his new Vanishing Lady trick on his Australian tour — believed to be the first time the illusion has been performed.

In Vanishing Lady, an assistant sits on a chair, a piece of cloth flung over him and disappearing into thin air—an illusion so simple and effective that variations of it are still practiced today.

The key to the trick is the intricate trapdoor mechanism, but it’s Dr Lynn’s stage equipment that sells the illusion.

As one reviewer in the Sydney Daily Telegraph wrote in 1886, “Dr Lynn is a man of surprises.”

“Everything he said contained some form of unexpected excitement; everything he did yielded some unexpected and strange results,” the reviewer wrote.

After his 1886 trip to Australia, Simmons continued his illusions as far as India and South Africa, performing until his death in 1899 at the age of 63.

Although he was not valued as much as Houdini, who would bring his own feats of illusion to Australia many years later, Arnold believes Dr Lynn’s contribution deserves to be revalued.

“I think he’s very, very important, I think he’s contributed to some of the most important things [illusion] technique.”

“If he doesn’t create it, he is very close.”

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